App downloads are expected to increase by over 50 billion a year by 2020, signaling lots of opportunities to earn revenue with your apps. However, too many app developers for the iOS platform are making easily avoidable mistakes that are losing them money. Here are some of the most common iOS App Development Errors.
Your App Doesn’t Have a Clear Focus
Creating an app for the iOS store is a long process that starts with planning, but when poor planning or too many distractions get in the way of the big picture, your users might end up with a substandard product. If you can’t clearly explain the purpose of your app based on its features to someone who has never used it before, you might be inviting your competition to wipe your app off the map.
Not Knowing When to Monetize the App
It’s human nature to want to cash in on a product as quickly as possible, and that’s a trap some fall into during iOS app development. Charging money up front to the user to download the app is a gamble; paid apps are downloaded at a small fraction of the rate of free ones. Then, when the user does pay for the app up front, they are far less likely to pay for in-app purchases later on.
App Pricing Is All Wrong
If you do choose to charge upfront for an app, the iOS app developer has to determine a fair price point, which can be challenging. Charging too much might keep users from downloading, but as we mentioned above, paid apps to tend to discourage in-app purchases, so pricing too low means not much money is ever made.
Not Focusing on the Basics of Usability
No matter if you want the user to pay for an upgraded app or if you want them to make in-app purchases, you have to develop an iOS app that people want to use as your baseline. The keys to keeping users happy are in the hands of the iOS app developers; it’s up to them to focus on app presentation and ease of use. A well-performing app that has all the design elements that iOS users like is the lead-in to the next step you want the user to take with the app.
You’re Giving too Much Away for Free
Notice that we said that it’s important to have a well-performing and nice-looking app; this is different from having a feature-rich free app. Giving away too many features with a free app completely eliminates any incentive to make purchases in the app. You can offer a one-time trial of features you want them to buy, but giving everything away is losing money, bottom line.
Affiliate Ads Are Overwhelming the Users
Selling advertising is a major way an iOS app developer can monetize the app, but they can also lose users if they don’t plan accordingly. If your in-app ads are annoying, don’t be surprised if the user stops coming back. The most successful ads bring value to the app, even if it’s just because the banner or pop-up looks very uniform with the app’s appearance. Even if your ad is invasive, make sure it’s well designed so the user will want to interact with the ad to increase how much you get paid.
The iOS app developer has the ultimate control over how iOS app development is optimized for monetization. The design will largely determine if an app is ever even used and ultimately if the user interacts with ads, makes in-app purchases, or buys a paid version. Being aware of the mistakes outlined above will help you improve your planning, development and revision processes.
| About the Guest Author:
Michael Kelley